| Abstract: | Because of their properties, flax fibres can be used as reinforcing material in composites, e. g. as substitute for glass fibres in composites with polypropylene. A major drawback of this application is the high water adsorption of the natural fibre and its low adhesion to the hydrophobic polymer. Therefore, improvement of adhesion to the polypropylene matrix by application of bifunctional silanes was investigated. While silanes with alkyl groups did not significantly improve the fibre-matrix adhesion, it was found that silanes which carry functional groups capable of reacting by formation of free radicals under processing conditions lead to a remarkable improvement. For silanes with vinylic and methacrylic groups, the dependence of adhesion on the nature of hydrolysis catalyst, on the compound which initiates the free-radical reaction, and on the degree of fibre silylation was investigated. The degree of silylation was varied under optimum concentration conditions. |
